Home care in Hillsborough, NJ, across the whole township

Hillsborough is a big township, with farmland, preserved open space and Duke Farms inside its borders, and that size is what makes home care in Hillsborough, NJ different from care in a compact borough.

A caregiver working the neighborhoods off Route 206 is in a busy suburb. On the far side of Duke Farms or up toward the Sourland Mountain, the same caregiver is on dark country roads. Amwell Road, South Branch Road and Route 206 hold the township together, and they back up at the wrong hours.

So the schedule has to be realistic. We would rather build a plan around shifts we can truly staff at your end of the township than sell you a calendar we can't fill, and once we find the right caregiver, we keep that familiar face coming back. Care runs from a few hours a week to overnight care and live-in care.

Most Hillsborough hospital stays happen at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset in Somerville, up Route 206.

Recovery often goes by way of Amwell Road. Bridgeway Care and Rehabilitation Center at Hillsborough, 395 Amwell Road, offers short-term rehab, skilled nursing and long-term care, and Avalon Assisted Living shares the campus at 393 Amwell Road.

The toughest day usually comes after all of that: the first morning home, when the walker is new, the bed is too low, and nobody is there to help with getting up. Hospital-to-home care and mobility care put a caregiver there for exactly that morning.

Hillsborough's senior programs sit on South Branch Road, one run by the county and one by the township:

• The Somerset County Senior Wellness Center at Hillsborough, 339 South Branch Road, open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., (908) 369-8700
• The township's Municipal Senior Activity Center, 379 South Branch Road, run by Hillsborough's Social Services Department

The township also runs a free senior bus on weekdays for residents 60 and older. It goes to grocery stores, banks, salons and doctors in town, and to medical appointments at a few hospitals beyond it, such as Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington. Riders have to get to and from the bus on their own or bring an aide, and one of our caregivers can be that aide.

All of that runs on weekday hours. None of it helps with bathing in the morning, the trip back from the bathroom at night, or a meal on a Sunday. Home care covers the other side of those hours, and often its real job is keeping your parent well enough to keep going to the center. That is what personal care and companion care are for.

The first conversation is about your parent's actual day, not a package of hours. Always Responsive Home Care is a private-pay, non-medical agency, founded in 2010 by a registered nurse, Teresa Sajkowski.

Call (609) 208-1111; someone answers day or night. We come to the house in Hillsborough, look at the stairs, the bathroom and the routine, and tell you plainly what level of help it calls for. Then we match a caregiver on temperament and need, not on whoever is free, and we arrange the backup ourselves if that caregiver can't make a shift. There are no large deposits, no long-term contracts and no cancellation penalties.

Families pay us directly, and if your parent has long-term care insurance, we file the claims so the policy reimburses you; see our payment options. When memory is the reason you are calling, start with Alzheimer's and dementia care. When a family caregiver is running on empty, start with respite care. Hillsborough is one of the towns our Somerset and Hunterdon County office serves, and every ZIP code we cover is on our service areas page.

Some Hillsborough parents have moved to an adult community such as Gateway at Royce Brook, where homes are built with the main bedroom suite on the first floor. That layout makes the day easier, and a caregiver fills in the rest, from a shower with someone close by to breakfast, a tidy kitchen and a ride to the clubhouse or the doctor.

Other parents are still in the house where they raised their children, often with the bedrooms upstairs. There, a caregiver helps with the stairs at both ends of the day, carries the laundry and keeps the hallways and the bathroom safe and uncluttered. During the stretch after discharge, that kind of support helps them return to the routines they know.

In home care in Hillsborough also protects the friendships that matter to your loved one. A caregiver can make time for a phone call with a cousin, a visit from a grandchild or an afternoon with an old friend. Our office keeps family updated, including those who live far away.